$65.00 CAD
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Photo of an Allied Nieuport 28 biplane crashed in a field, shot down on July 14, 1918. Lying beside the plane is the pilot: Quentin Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Plane has a ‘14’ on the fuselage. The photo was taken for propaganda purposes.
Appears to be a faint '89' on the negative, LR corner.
Unused.
Some rust spots, smudge on back.
(Red text is an electronic watermark that is not physically part of the photo for sale)
Quentin Roosevelt I (November 19, 1897 – July 14, 1918) was the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt and First Lady Edith Roosevelt. Inspired by his father and siblings, he joined the United States Army Air Service where he became a pursuit pilot during World War I. He was killed in aerial combat over France on Bastille Day (July 14), 1918. As of 2021, he is the only child of a US President to die in combat.
Quentin's plane (a Nieuport 28) was shot down in aerial combat over Chamery, a hamlet of Coulonges-en-Tardenois (now Coulonges-Cohan). He was felled by two machine gun bullets which struck him in the head. The German military buried him with full battlefield honors. Since the plane had crashed so near the front lines, they used two pieces of basswood saplings, bound together with wire from his Nieuport, to fashion a cross for his grave. For propaganda purposes, they made a postcard of the dead pilot and his plane. However, this was met with shock in Germany, which still held Theodore Roosevelt in high respect and was impressed that a former president's son died on active duty. According to his service record, the site was at Marne Grave #1 Isolated Commune #102, Coulongue Aisne. The French government posthumously awarded him the Croix de Guerre with Palm
